Students of Birla Institute of Technology (BIT), Mesra have taken up the social media platform demanding the institute’s administration to waive semester fees citing Corona pandemic. The students’ grievances is that due to pandemic many families are living on the bare minimum, a large number of individuals are working on a portion of the pay, a great number of organisations are slowed down because of this lockdown.
The students through social media platforms such as twitter and facebook have stated that as there is uncertainty when the college will reopen, the institute administration is asking students to pay fees for the upcoming semester. The students claimed that while the University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) have instructed that during lockdown, college administration cannot force the students to pay the fees, but contrary to these higher education regulators are forcing students to pay fees.
A student of seventh semester of mechanical engineering branch requesting anonymity said, “More than 1500 students have written e-mail to University Vice Chancellor and Registrar with a demand for fees waiver, but the institute have said that they are not in position to waive the fees.”
The students further said that the University is demanding tuition fees, hostel fees and other expenses, while on other hand their classes have been suspended since March 17. No offline classes have been held since March 17, but the institute is demanding lab fees too which is added in tuition fees head.
The students’ plea is while the whole world is struggling with the Covid-19 outbreak, on the one hand, the BIT administration is trying to break the students financially. Even when there is no part of the society stable due to the lockdown, the BIT officials remain intent on collecting fees from students, ignoring the conditions of many families where receiving salaries is yet a question mark, although many people are still working on half of the salary, most of the businesses are stalled due to this lockdown.
Echoing the view of mechanical branch students, another student from the Civil engineering department said, “When no guidelines have been given to open the college, then why is this fee being collected from the students? There is no point in taking development fees and electricity bills when there will be an online semester.”
The students claimed the facility which was not used in previous semester (such as transport fees, electricity fees, examination fees, etc.) should be used in this semester, reducing the amount from this semester’s fees and hence provide some relief to the tensed students. The students have also requested BIT administration for fee payment in installments.
However, the BIT administration is not in the mood of fee waiver. BIT Mesra Dean Students Welfare (DSW), Anand Kumar Sinha said, “I am not in position to say anything on fee waiver as VC or Registrar can only say on this. However, we have come to know that the institute has decided not to collect mess fees as classes are suspended.” Efforts to contact registrar AP Krishna failed as he didn’t respond to the calls made by The Pioneer.
BIT is the leading engineering institute in the country with a rich alumni list including Chief Minister Hemant Soren. Around 7000 students study at the institute at various engineering, MBA, pharmacy branches.